FINAL COURSE INSTRUCTIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

I will need additional time to complete comments on your paper drafts, and will have them ready for you by the end of the day Thursday, April 30. I will send out an e-mail to the class to let you know the papers are ready for pick-up, and will leave them in a marked box outside my office, Dakota Hall, 207.

As a result, I am extending the final paper deadline until Thursday, May 7!

Important!!! Your final course paper is due no later than 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, 2009!!!

Please either leave your paper in my mailbox in the English Department office, or slide it under my office door, Dakota Hall 207.

Please make sure to include your rough draft with my comments, along with your final, revised draft.

If you would like to have your paper returned to you, please include a manila envelope with your address, and sufficient postage to return your paper and rough draft. I will also keep your papers in my office, and you are welcome to pick them up next fall.

Don't forget to submit your 500-word write-ups/reviews for two outside literary events, if you haven't done so already. If you were not able to attend a second literary event, you may write a 500-word review of a volume of poetry/novel/short story collection/memoir by a multicultural author. You may complete an additional review for extra credit, or replacement of one absence, if you wish. Final deadline for review submission will also be Thursday, May 7, 5:00 p.m., along with your final paper!!!

READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009

Important!! 10-page draft (you may turn in complete 15-18 pages, if you wish) of your final paper will be due in class on Tuesday, April 21, and submitted to Turnitin.com by 4:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 21, and Tuesday, April 28, will be devoted to 15-minute presentations of your research papers. You may either read a condensed version of your paper, or present/demonstrate the salient points/discussion in a more interactive manner to the class.

We are now finished with required blogging for the semester. You may, however, submit up to two extra credit blogs to replace missing blogs, or earn extra credit!

Upcoming Outside Literary Events (You will need to attend two, and submit a 500-word review to me for credit. You may attend an additional event for absence make-up and/or extra credit):

Thursday, April 16, 7:00 p.m., Farber Hall - Poetry Reading by Stephen Burt

Friday, April 17, 3:00 p.m., Farber Hall - Critical Talk - "Science Fiction and the Afterlife," by Stephen burt

Thursday, April 30, 7:00 p.m., Coffee Shop Gallery - VLP Magazine Launch and Poetry Slam (you may only write up one slam as an outside literary event)

READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2009

Please read The Autobiography of Red, by Anne Carson.

Please also read From Frankenstein's Monster to Haraway's Cyborg: Gender in Monstrosity, Cyborgosity and (Post)humanity, by Theodora Eliza Vacarescu.

Also? Don't forget to blog!

Looking ahead, please note that a 10-page draft (you may turn in complete 15-18 pages, if you wish) of your final paper will be due in class on Tuesday, April 21, and submitted to Turnitin.com by 4:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 21, and Tuesday, April 28, will be devoted to 15-minute presentations of your research papers. You may either read a condensed version of your paper, or present/demonstrate the salient points/discussion in a more interactive manner to the class.

Upcoming Outside Literary Events (You will need to attend two, and submit a 500-word review to me for credit. You may attend an additional event for absence make-up and/or extra credit):

Thursday, April 16, 7:00 p.m., Farber Hall - Poetry Reading by Stephen Burt

Friday, April 17, 3:00 p.m., Farber Hall - Critical Talk on Science Fiction by Stephen burt

Thursday, April 30, 7:00 p.m., Coffee Shop Gallery - VLP Magazine Launch and Poetry Slam (you may only write up one slam as an outside literary event)

READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2009

Please read Jeanette Winterson's The Powerbook and the essay, "Tinysex and Gender Trouble," from Sherry Turkle's Identity in the Age of the Internet (circulated in class via Xerox handout). (If you were absent on Tuesday, get a copy from a classmate, or pick up a copy from my office to read sometime before Tuesday's class.)

Important!! Please turn in an Introduction and Outline to your final paper in class on Tuesday, April 7. Your introduction will need to be 1-2 pages, setting forth the central critical/intellectual/analytical problem or question that you plan to address in your paper. Your introduction may also address how you plan to address this central problem/question within the body of your paper -- either through the research, criticism, or modes of analysis. Your introduction should ultimately move toward a clear statement of your thesis. (I understand that your thesis may ultimately evolve or take on sharper/clearer focus after having written more of the body of your paper and conducted additional research/analysis, etc. but I'd like to see you have a good sense, at this juncture, of what direction you are pointing your paper in -- with the understanding that this may require some additional fine-tuning.) Your introduction should also include an outline/roadmap for the remainder of the paper, and a more expanded/developed bibliography.

P.S. -- Don't forget to blog!